I had made an effort to be in contact with the Metta Development Foundation, which is the largest and most competent of the local NGOs in Myanmar. I had previously met the Director, Sai Sam Kham on a couple of occasions and this year, I was determined to do a joint project with them. We decided on a Stove and PV Training in Lashio, which is the largest town in Northern Shan State, not too far from the border with China.

I took a funky train to Lashio that took 11 hours instead of 4 hours by road. It was fun, passing through isolated villages with no road connection. People generously shared their food with me. It was worth doing once.................

The training lasted 11 days and was held in the Metta demonstration farm, just outside town. Set in 30 acres of forest and paddy fields, this site was perfect. The participants were from all over Myanmar, from Mytkina in the north to Bogalay in the south – I was honored that people had traveled so far to take my training. These participants were a somewhat specialized group in that they were already employed as community activists and technicians. They indeed proved to be a hard group to impress with my renewable bells and whistles, but by the end, I had won them over and they genuinely thanked me for the new knowledge they had gained.

The students experiment with Orientation and Tilt Angle to optimize solar output

As always, I myself learned some valuable lessons during the training. This time, I discovered that there are better clays than the one I had used at the two Asia Light trainings, which did not produce really strong bricks. Mr Lum Po, the farm manager kindly showed us where the best clay was to be found. It turned out that at the bottom of the irrigation ditches feeding the paddy fields there was a rich black clay and elsewhere there was a an outcrop of thick brown clay. These proved to be far superior to the clays I had used before. Mr Lum Po also showed us some termite hills and knowing that repairs to brick houses in Madagascar were made with termite clay, famed for it's stickiness and strength, I thought I would try that too.

Getting down with that slippery, plastic , black clay

The Stove training followed the usual pattern, making the angled bricks from clay and insulating material,(charcoal and rice husks), in molds. I had had these heavy metal molds made by my favorite welder in Pyin Oo Lwin, and although very rugged, they still didn't produce a brick with exactly 45 degree sides. But as the bricks can be “shaved” after firing, this isn't a big problem.

The brick mold in action, being lead by the lady who knows how

We were surprised to discover that the termite clay did not produce a strong brick, when mixed with insulating material. Mr Lum Po was especially surprised as he had previously made a clay rabbit from this same termite material and even without firing, it had turned out “as hard as a brick”! I obviously still have a lot to learn about clays and how to produce a strong, yet insulative, brick.

Constructing a 'Haybox' from a bamboo basket and some sacks filled with rice husks. This simple confection can save up to 50% of the fuel required to cook a meal

The PV course took place while the bricks were drying in the sun and although often turgid during the theory periods, the pace picked up during the hands-on sessions. I must learn how to enliven these PV courses, incorporating more practical sessions and inventing games that illustrate the principles I wish to communicate. The farm already had a PV system, but as usual, it had an old car battery and some very tenuous electrical connections. I had brought two 80W PV panels with me to demonstrate the water pump but I decided to use them instead for a second system in parallel with the existing one. The new PV panels were mounted on a manual tracker, made from common plumbing fittings, that allows the user to follow the sun during the day, and obtain the highest solar yield possible.

The new solar tracker, with the original fixed solar array in the background

My mother Mary, enjoying the warmth of the sunroom

Passing OnThis year's trip was strangely accompanied by reminders of our mortality. In January, just before arriving in Myanmar, I rushed back to Scotland to be with my family and our mother, Mary, at the moment of her passing. I feel very grateful to have spent so much time with her, both in Scotland and California, at a period in our lives, when “the pressure was off” and we could relate more as equals and friends. She will be dearly missed by all those who knew and loved her.

One day in Pyin Oo Lwin, our friend Patrick took us to visit a local Buddhist nunnery, which he supports and which has a hard time making ends meet. The number of little nuns, about 100, is being added to weekly from the on-going conflicts in Kachin State. As we watched the little nuns sing their songs and carry in huge armfuls of wood for the kitchen, no-one had any idea of the tragedy that was about to unfold. At the moment we were making our donations to the head nun, there was a rumbling noise from the rear of the compound, followed by screams. A wall had collapsed and two little nuns, five or six years old, had been crushed to death. We offered our truck for transportation, but the two little ones were beyond any help the outside could offer. We could do nothing, but take our sad farewells and leave the distraught head nun and her charges to to grieve the loss of these two young souls.

The little nuns sing a song for us. The new arrivals from conflict zones don't yet have their robes.

The unfinished monument to the Catholic priest

Jumping on to Madagascar, I did a great deal of 4x4 travel to reach remote areas where I repaired solar systems in clinics, and this sometimes involved going up roads which were imfamous for bandit attacks. On four occasions, we had to travel on a road which although adjoining the major north-south Route National, was well-known for sniper attacks. Indeed, only one month earlier, a Malagasy Catholic priest was shot dead as he passed through in his car. This unfortunate incident was a tragic case of mistaken identity, as the shooter thought the priest was the money collector for the local beer company and that there would be a large haul in the car. Each time we passed his monument, a frisson went through all of us and the driver sunk a little lower down in his seat!

Lastly, when I arrived back in Tanzania I found out that Joseph ChaCha, my driver from three years ago had died in a car accident. A flat tire had caused the car to flip over and crash. No more will Joseph barrel across the plains of the Serengeti. Rest in Peace, Joseph.

Solar Roots Training CenterOn another site visit with Patrick, (a Burmese friend with an adopted name), we visted a Gorka village on the edge of Pyin Oo Lwin. The Gorkas (or Gurkhas) are of course, the Nepalese tribe famous for their bravery in the British Army. They were brought to Myanmar during colonial times, and have carved out a niche for themselves, particularly in the higher altitude, ex-hill stations of Maymyo (Pyin Oo Lwin) and Kalaw.

Ostensibly, the visit was to see what we could do help this marginalised community, but after meeting the Sayadaw (head monk), of the village monastery, Patrick asked if I would like to buy a piece of land around there. This was not entirely out of the blue, as I had told him I was looking for a plot on which to build a house.

The view from the backyard, over the Spirit Mountain

The village is made up of houses interspersed with fields of vegetables and flowers, grown for market. After looking at several plots for sale, we found one, at the end of the road, that perfectly fit the bill. It's a field of about half an acre, with a dozen or more jack fruit trees down one side and a beautiful view out back onto a jungle-covered “spirit mountain”, where the nats live. The trees will never be cut on this hill and a clear spring descends from high up to water the adjoining fields.

Some of my young neighbors!

I plan to return in December to build a modest bamboo house and later, the structure which will be used for Solar Roots training sessions. I envisage this now-barren field being full of fruit trees and flowering shrubs, with maybe a pond in the center. It's a dream and a glint in my eye at the moment, but the first step has been taken and I can't wait to take some more.